So excited that Raised by Moths has been shortlisted by the Children’s Book Council of Australia, 2024. This is a huge honour. Thank you for recognising the amazing illustrations of Michelle Conn. They illustrate the story so beautifully with magical charm, joy and sensitivity. Creating this book has been such a special journey and if you don’t have a copy you need one 🙂 @MidnightSun Publishing
A few weeks ago, I decided to leave my job. The freedom monster in me was let loose. No more working for that regular pay check. No more working for a system. No more obligation. I was ready to move on and I did.
I don’t regret it, but it is funny being on the other side of the fence. I have a turtle who spends his whole life trying to scale and break free of his pond enclosure. One day he will. I am sure he will scale the fence and find himself on the other side. But I know him. For a while he will be confused, nervous and low on supplies but he will rally and adapt to his freedom and scavenge for a while.
I am hoping this happens for me. Even if my hallway of possibility is looking devoid of open doors. Was the act of quitting a job without a new position impulsive or rash? Should you wait until you have secured a new position or trust in yourself and the old adage about one door closing and a new one opening? I’m going with the adage, but if you are out in WordPress universe and need a freelancer feel free to knock….
The verb to bloom is the process of blossoming, reaching development, flourishing. Flowers bloom where they grow, from seeds that are sown, or seeds that land in a place where they thrive. And yet many of us feel we need to move, or be somewhere different, in order for our creative growth to happen.
Some people pick up their roots, replant and resettle where conditions are better and opportunities brighter. But for many of us, this is not an option, no matter how much we may want it to be. Life makes it hard to go where the grass is greener.
But from the spot where we are planted we can flower just as brightly. When we accept where we are and commit to growth in the place where life has sown us, we are able to blossom. And then, like seeds, we may be blown to new green pastures, or actually prefer to stay.
My grandma lived on an island and the only way to reach her cottage was over a long causeway. But every childhood visit was heightened by the expectation of making it across. High tide, bad weather, jellyfish blooms-well not really but in my imagination they swarmed-rendered crossing the causeway impassable as it lay beneath the murk of the sea.
Causeways link two distinct places, island to island, island to mainland, one land mass to another. But unlike bridges they are far more vulnerable to the elements and forces of nature. If the tide was high it was a long wait in the car until the cold grey waters of East Anglia receded enough so we could cross.
Sometimes the links between thoughts and actions are firm and definable like bridges. You can cross back and forth as you please. But sometimes they are like navigating causeways. You have to wait for conditions to be right.
The desire to cross a predictable bridge with swift passage from A to B is strong, well-trodden, easy. But so often these aren’t the roads we face. The times we are in find me waiting for the tide to go down and to be accepting of that. Around me are the flat damp mud flats of the mainland, across the causeway and through the jellyfish is the light of a cottage.
I’ll get there but it’ll take a bit longer than expected. ©
Celebrate the people you love because who knows when things might change?
We can’t help pushing forward with our own wants and desires but we have to make time for love. Love for partners, family, and friends. Whoever makes your heart crack when you think about missing them.
Without giving our love we are just bystanders in life, not really committing, and if you’re not present then you miss out. So, if you’ve been forgetting to tell the people you care about how much and why you love them, do it today. Every day is an opportunity to acknowledge and be grateful for all the love in our lives.
Okay. This is my first blog in a long time and I’m doing something I don’t usually do and posting without drafting first. This is a bit intense-sort of like public speaking without practicing but if I don’t do it I never will. I probably wouldn’t advise this as a long term public platform strategy because we’ve all witnessed the toe curling awkwardness of an ill planned speech so let’s think of this more like karaoke. After all, we can all forgive a poor but heartfelt rendition of Adele’s, Someone Like You.
I have found it so hard to write. So hard to do something I really enjoy. What’s with that? Am I alone? Are you artists not painting, are you fitness fiends not at the gym, you singers missing choir to watch Netflix, you cooks ordering take away? We are in a funk people. And just for your information funk is being in a bad space, avoiding things out of fear, you get the drift. Funk!
I’ve been avoiding my computer. I’ve been locking it in a cupboard. Not because I’m bonkers but because I’m living overseas and my guest house is not equipped with four star safe security. So I cover it with my undies to keep it and my passport safe. This of course means every day when I go to get fresh pants-and lets be honest sometimes not so fresh-I see it. Staring expectantly up at me, eager for attention like a tiger dog. I ignore it, not because I think it may be rabid but because I don’t know where to start.
But today is the day. Fear, self-doubt, uncertainty, have made me jumpy and the irony is, when I get in such a mindset it is hard to grasp and action the things I know make a difference.
So why post today? Good question. It has to do with another of my great passions-food. There is the most delicious restaurant right down my road. Sage. Fabulous name on so many levels. Gourmet vegan cuisine. And when you order, around a napkin and your utensils is wrapped a little message.
This was mine.
You will get there when you are meant to get there and not one moment sooner. So relax, breathe, and be patient.
It was exactly what I needed. I have been patient and all the time I’ve not been writing I’ve been doing other things. So if you find yourself in the midst of an inner struggle do not underestimate the efforts you make to regroup and the self reliance you gain in the process. When the time is right you will be ready to re-embrace your passions. See I’ve already started a story…
Before you embark on a massive life change you cannot possibly imagine what your life will be like two, three weeks after the event. Where will you be living, how will you get around, what will the weather be like. And this is only the tip of a relocation iceberg. Lurking in the deep blue waters of life change are bigger questions and darker answers. Feelings and emotions, you had absolutely no idea you’d feel. So, as Eliza Stipend sipped her bitter coffee it should come as no surprise she burst into tears. The tears of -what the hell am I doing-gulped out of her. But for Eliza and so many who forge out into the unknown solo there was no one there to give her a hug.
Better post before I edit!
‘The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live.’
Auguste Rodin
This quote is so simple and beautiful I wanted to share it. It is a reminder to be present not bystanders in our lives.
Our lives are always see-sawing, trying to balance, to find equilibrium and sometimes we manage to achieve it. So, if your mind and body are in a good place it is important to make the most of it. There are many people who would like to be living differently but for various reasons are unable to.
If things are going well we have an opportunity to celebrate life and give back to it. These moments are rare. Happiness, joy and simplicity are precious, fleeting gifts which should never be wasted. By embracing love, hope and the moments which move us we are truly living.
There Are No Words
Four chunks of letters strung together
Four beads of meaning that tell us there is nothing to say
There are no words for some things
The place beneath language
beneath hope
Why bother to describe the hollow of despair
The home of things too unbearable to bear
So, in their absence we turn
to a wrenching sob
to a clenching hug
to the truth they were loved
A shuddered surrender to the unfathomable
Because,
There are no words.
Charlie x © 
Charlie Achbold 